Developers' private home sales
(excluding executive condominiums) in July quadrupled to 1,594 from just 375 in
June. The July figure released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Monday (17
August) is the highest monthly figure in about two years but is due largely to
just one project.

Chip Eng Seng's
sale of 1,169 units of High Park Residences in Fernvale Road
accounted for 73% of the volume. The combination of a sub-$1,000psf average
pricing (below that for typical suburban projects) and a good proportion of
small-format units meant that the vast majority sold were below $1 million,
putting them within reach of a wider pool of buyers.

Photo: Fernvale Development

The project's
facilities and its location next to Thanggam LRT Station, one stop from The
Seletar Mall, also helped with the marketing pitch, along with suggestions that
rental demand could come from those working in SeletarAerospacePark.

However, most market watchers are not
expecting July's sales momentum to be sustained. For one, the Hungry Ghosts
Month began last Friday.

Desmond Sim,
head of Singapore and South-east Asia at CBRE Research, cited two other reasons
why August and September would be relatively quiet - the Jubilee celebrations
and election fever. "Only a handful of major projects of more than 300
units and a few prime district projects are expected (to be released) for the
rest of the year."

However, sales
momentum could come from executive condominium (EC) projects - a public-private
housing hybrid. This Saturday, sales bookings will begin for MCLLand's
Sol
Acres in Choa Chu Kang Grove. The average price is $780psf for the 707
units in the initial phase of marketing of the 1,327-unit development. Other EC
projects slated for launch include JBE Holdings' 525-unit Signature at Yishun,
where e-applications will open on Sept 11, with bookings starting on Sept 26.

Next door, City
Developments plans to launch its 505-unit The Criterion in the fourth quarter.

Eugene Lim, key
executive officer of ERA Realty, said: "Developers are likely to step up EC
launches once the imminent upward revision of income ceiling for EC buyers is
confirmed."

In the private
housing segment, there has been talk that KeppelLand
may release new units at Highline Residences, near Tiong
Bahru MRT Station - later this month or next month.

In October, UOL
and Kheng Leong are expected to release their 663-unit Principal Garden condo
along Prince Charles Crescent.

"Generally,"
said a seasoned developer, "developers are expected to price their
projects reasonably to draw buyers - given the uncertainties that continue to
weigh on the market including interest rate increases, exchange rate woes and
stock market volatility as well as the looming high volumes of private housing
completions."

In the luxury
condo segment, Wing Tai in July sold a fifth floor unit at its freehold Le
Nouvel Ardmore condo for $15.84 million or S$4,000 psf - the highest
psf price for a non-landed private home so far this year.

The July
private home volume marked a big jump from the 511 units a year ago and was the
highest since June 2013, when 1,806 units were sold.

As in the past,
the strong pick-up in July sales was in tandem with an increase in units
launched.

In the EC
segment, developers found buyers for 495 units in July, up from 110 in June and
51 units a year ago. July's top-selling EC development was City Developments' The Brownstone in Canberra Drive, with 187 units sold at a
median price of $818psf, followed by Singhaiyi Group and Kay Lim Investment's The
Vales in Anchorvale
Crescent (79 units sold at $788 psf median price).
Both were launched last month.

In the first seven months, 5,021
private homes and 1,260 ECs were sold in the primary market. For the whole of
2014, the figures were 7,316 and 1,578 respectively.

Chua Yang
Liang, JLL head of research for Singapore
and South-east Asia, is sticking to his
forecast that developers will sell 6,500-7,500 private homes this year. PropNex
Realty CEO Ismail Gafoor expects some 8,000-9,000 to be sold.

As for ECs, Mr
Lim of ERA reckons around 2,000 units could be sold.

Mr Ismail said
that while selected projects that are reasonably priced and well located will
continue to attract buyers, prices are expected to come under some pressure as
the potential pool of buyers shrinks and developers face stronger competition.

As for the hope
that cooling measures may be lifted soon, National Development Minister Khaw
Boon Wan has quashed such talk. He told Today that while the property market
was "a lot less hot", it has not reached a point where an adjustment,
or even a lifting, of those measures is warranted.

"The right
time is when the equilibrium is a lot more certain, more sustainable," he
said. "And I don't think we are at that point yet."

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